Two-Faced Christians

All scripture references, unless otherwise noted, are from the King James Version of the Holy Bible. The Hebrew and Greek meaning of the words mentioned are from Strong's Hebrew-Greek Dictionary

Have you ever told a lie? I have! Oh, I don't mean so-called Christians who tell lies all the time. I am talking about you and I! The Bible says in Revelation 21:8,   "But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death." (Emphasis is mine) And all liars? Yes all liars. The Bible says,  "...and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone..." I don't want to be found a liar in the day of Judgment!

But are there two faced Christians? I think there are. One type is mentioned in Acts 5:1-11 which talks about Ananias and Sapphira his wife. The apostle Peter said to Ananias when he brought his offering to lay at the apostles feet, "why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land? Whiles it remained, was it not thine own? and after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God." There is an old saying, "you can fool some of the people all the time and all the people some of the time but you can't fool all the people all the time." But the Bible says in Hebrews 4:13, "...all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do." You can't fool God at any time!

This is called presumptuous sin. One meaning of presumptuous  found in Dr. Strong's Hebrew-Greek dictionary is arrogance. The Bible says in Psalm 19:13  "Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression." What Ananias and Sapphira did is called presumptuous sin! They conspired together to keep back a part of the proceeds from the sale of their property while letting on that they were bringing all and laying it at the apostles feet. That makes me think of giving my all, not holding back any part. The Bible says in Romans 3:23-24, "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus..." Thank God we have been justified by the grace of the Lord Jesus. I remember the adult Bible teacher when I first turned to God saying that the word justified meant or could mean just (as) if I'd never sinned. I don't think he was far off the track.

      

Many times I have felt totally unworthy of the grace of God, to the point that I could have just given up. But God didn't want me to give up serving Him (and neither did I) nor does He want you to. He didn't bring us out to lose us. We sometimes used to sing the chorus, "Oh To Be Like Thee." The words are as follows:

    Oh! to be like Thee, oh! to be like Thee,

    Blessed Redeemer, pure as Thou art;
    Come in Thy sweetness, come in Thy fullness;
    Stamp Thine own image deep on my heart.

This is truly my hearts desire, is it yours? It can be! You can be to God in Christ just as if you'd never sinned. Just as if you had never told a lie. Justified by the Lord Jesus through your faith in Him. You can be a sweet smelling savor to God if you will put your trust in the Lord Jesus today.